Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Software
Timeline
Hobbies
Generic
Martin Wolfaardt

Martin Wolfaardt

CTO
Plettenberg Bay,WC

Summary

As a seasoned Engineering Lead with a comprehensive grasp of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), I excel in translating complex business requirements into secure, scalable, and innovative solutions. With a year's experience navigating the intricacies of the financial sector and over seven years spearheading IT operations within the talent analytics domain, my expertise lies in orchestrating the strategic evolution of technology architectures to drive business excellence.

In my recent tenure, I was entrusted with the pivotal role of architecting the future state of workforce and application identity management for a distributed workforce of over 30,000 employees and contributors, operating within a stringent regulatory framework.

In my previous role as CTO my leadership was instrumental in the seamless transition of legacy systems to a Platform as a Service (PaaS) model, predominantly leveraging Azure cloud services. This strategic migration not only bolstered our security posture and scalability but also unlocked new avenues for process automation, significantly enhancing operational efficiency.

My approach to technology leadership is deeply rooted in fostering collaborative partnerships with business stakeholders and clients. I am committed to demystifying technological complexities, ensuring that strategic decisions are informed by both technical insight and empathetic understanding of business needs. My goal is to contribute my analytical acumen and hands-on engineering expertise to a forward-thinking team, where we can collectively pioneer solutions that not only meet but exceed our strategic objectives.

Overview

28
28
years of professional experience
6
6
years of post-secondary education
3
3
Languages

Work History

Engineering Lead

Nedbank
Plettenberg Bay (WFH), Western Cape
11.2022 - Current

Worked with the Identity and Data Access Governance team, responsible for developing a strategy for target state IAM for workforce and application identity as well as for modernizing the access governance solution. Very involved in the community of practise - teaching in the EL academy and giving lectures on architectural methodology.

Chief Technology Officer

Peopletree Group
Johannesburg, Gauteng
10.2015 - 09.2022
  • Managed architecture, platform, ETL and schema design and implementation protocols across PaaS and SaaS.
  • Improved 5 proprietary SaaS applications in terms of functionality, reliability and performance
  • Contributed at code-face to legacy SaaS applications, database layer business logic implementations, BI (esp. Tableau) and API interfaces, both internal and client-facing

Full Stack Developer (Consultant)

Peopletree Group
Johannesburg, Gauteng
01.2011 - 10.2015
  • Contributed to legacy SaaS application core to Talent Analytics and Succession management in several large international clients thereby extending its' predicted life by 5 years and securing ZAR 4 million in licensing fees
  • Designed and improved data flow, data integrations and API-based integrations with HRI and other client systems, reducing new client on-boarding times by more than 50%
  • Contributed conceptually and as developer to custom software solutions in resource management space

Partner

Insite Solutions
Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape
01.1999 - 12.2010
  • Created websites (from brochureware to eCommerce) and built / leveraged custom CMS platforms
  • Built up and managed web hosting portfolio of upwards of 100 clients
  • Solved business problems using MS Access and Excel with VBA among other tools
  • Built custom booking system for Face Adrenalin handling upwards of ZAR 2 million in transactions / annum

Senior Quantitative Analyst

Nedcor
Johannesburg, Gauteng
01.1996 - 12.1998
  • Conceptualized and implemented complex arbitrage systems across derivative markets resulting in profits in the order of 2.5 million ZAR / annum
  • Contributed to Nedcor's first attempt at institution-wide off balance sheet risk aggregation
  • Supported strategic Treasury initiatives with analysis and software tools

Education

Master of Science - Theoretical Physics (Cosmology) (incomplete)

University of The Witwatersrand
Johannesburg
01.1991 - 01.1993

BSc (Honours) - Applied Mathematics And Physics

University of The Witwatersrand
Johannesburg
01.1990 - 12.1990

Bachelor of Science - Applied Mathematics, Computer Science And Physics

University of The Witwatersrand
Johannesburg
01.1987 - 12.1989

Skills

    IT Management and delivery

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Software

NET Core (C#)

Transact-SQL

MySQL

Javascript, TypeScript

VBNET, MVC

Tensorflow (Keras)

Angular

Tableau

API Development (REST etc)

Python

XHTML, CSS

Timeline

Engineering Lead

Nedbank
11.2022 - Current

Chief Technology Officer

Peopletree Group
10.2015 - 09.2022

Full Stack Developer (Consultant)

Peopletree Group
01.2011 - 10.2015

Partner

Insite Solutions
01.1999 - 12.2010

Senior Quantitative Analyst

Nedcor
01.1996 - 12.1998

Master of Science - Theoretical Physics (Cosmology) (incomplete)

University of The Witwatersrand
01.1991 - 01.1993

BSc (Honours) - Applied Mathematics And Physics

University of The Witwatersrand
01.1990 - 12.1990

Bachelor of Science - Applied Mathematics, Computer Science And Physics

University of The Witwatersrand
01.1987 - 12.1989

Hobbies

I am a passionate jazz lover, pianist and composer - I have recorded original albums and performed at international festivals.

Since 1998 I have been a keen mindfulness and meditation practitioner.

To stay fit I run and do Crossfit (badly)

Martin WolfaardtCTO